| Seven Pines: One of the Bloodiest Battles of the War |
Excerpt from the book, "The Battle of Seven Pines" by S. H. Newton:
"In the drizzling mist of a sodden dawn on June 4, 1862, the soldiers of the 11th Massachusetts woke up
on the late battlefield of Seven Pines. Forming a part of the first brigade of Hooker's division, the
Massachusetts men had not been engaged in either day of the battle, but on the night of June 3
constituted the advance guard when the Ill Corps cautiously returned in the wake of the Confederate
withdrawal forty-eight hours earlier. As first light penetrated the trees, horrified infantrymen discovered
that they had spent the night in a charnel house. 'Scores of horses and the swollen and black corpses of
hundreds of rebels, were stretched upon the ground,' remembered Captain H. N. Blake. Some of the
soldiers discovered belatedly that the wood they had scavenged for fires came from 'the rude headboards
which the rebels had placed over the graves of those they had buried.' Others awoke to find that the
offending arm or foot which had made sleep difficult had not been that of a comrade, but that of a corpse.
Left untended and unburied for several days, the bodies of Rebel and Yank alike had become a feast for
maggots. As they slept on the damp ground, the haversacks, bedrolls, and clothes of the 11th
Massachusetts had been invaded by 'the loathesome worms.' Not surprisingly, most of the men skipped
breakfast.
According to the official reports, just over 5,000 Union soldiers and more than 6,100 Confederate
soldiers became casualties at the battle of Seven Pines. Compared to Manassas, this was the bloodiest
fight yet seen in the East."
~~~~~~~~~
"The Battle of Seven Pines" by S. H. Newton, pub. 1993, H. E. Howard Pub., can usually be found at Amazon.com
Older, out of print books about the Battle of Seven Pines can sometimes be tracked down at Bookfinder.com.
"In the drizzling mist of a sodden dawn on June 4, 1862, the soldiers of the 11th Massachusetts woke up
on the late battlefield of Seven Pines. Forming a part of the first brigade of Hooker's division, the
Massachusetts men had not been engaged in either day of the battle, but on the night of June 3
constituted the advance guard when the Ill Corps cautiously returned in the wake of the Confederate
withdrawal forty-eight hours earlier. As first light penetrated the trees, horrified infantrymen discovered
that they had spent the night in a charnel house. 'Scores of horses and the swollen and black corpses of
hundreds of rebels, were stretched upon the ground,' remembered Captain H. N. Blake. Some of the
soldiers discovered belatedly that the wood they had scavenged for fires came from 'the rude headboards
which the rebels had placed over the graves of those they had buried.' Others awoke to find that the
offending arm or foot which had made sleep difficult had not been that of a comrade, but that of a corpse.
Left untended and unburied for several days, the bodies of Rebel and Yank alike had become a feast for
maggots. As they slept on the damp ground, the haversacks, bedrolls, and clothes of the 11th
Massachusetts had been invaded by 'the loathesome worms.' Not surprisingly, most of the men skipped
breakfast.
According to the official reports, just over 5,000 Union soldiers and more than 6,100 Confederate
soldiers became casualties at the battle of Seven Pines. Compared to Manassas, this was the bloodiest
fight yet seen in the East."
~~~~~~~~~
"The Battle of Seven Pines" by S. H. Newton, pub. 1993, H. E. Howard Pub., can usually be found at Amazon.com
Older, out of print books about the Battle of Seven Pines can sometimes be tracked down at Bookfinder.com.
| The battlefield in about 1912 |
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